With regard to the pending House bill (H-6172) that would help Rhode Island farm owners make ends meet by allowing them to use agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes such as rock concerts and weddings, in the process ignoring local zoning laws, I have one thing to say: This is insanity.

As a lifelong farmer, I wholly sympathize with efforts to make farm life easier in Rhode Island, but this muddle-headed bill is not the way to do it.

“Agritourism” means inviting the public to enjoy a corn maze, perhaps, or showing children how a carrot grows, or allowing people to pick their own blueberries or apples. It does not mean despoiling the bucolic and peaceful nature of a town by bringing in carnivals, weddings and rock concerts, or God only knows what else that would be allowed under this legislation.

Again, open space zoning ordinances are designed to preserve the character of a town so this priceless heritage can be handed down to our children, and their children in turn. To ambush that mission with an addle-brained attempt to help one multi-gazillionaire in Little Compton make a success out of a marginal winery is, in effect, “destroying a village in order to save it,” (or, in this case, in order to save one absentee landowner), as the phrase went when I was with the Marines in Vietnam ages ago.